Sony has just announced a price increase for their PlayStationPlus membership. Originally priced at $49.99 for a one year membership, the price will be increasing to $59.99 in the United States and $69.99 in Canada.

An official statement on the PlayStation Blog states “The new pricing reflects the current market conditions while enabling us to continue providing exceptional value to our members.”

This is the first time that there has been a price increase to the PS+ membership since it’s launch in 2010. Microsoft increased the price of XboxLive back in February in 6 countries (Austria, Hungary, Israel, South Africa, Sweden, and Turkey) to bring it in line with the $59.99USD price point.

With the Canadian dollar still trailing behind the US Dollar this is not a surprising change as new games have been priced in the $75-80 range for some time now. Still, this is the first time membership fees have increased for Canada in relation to the USD price point.

PlayStationPlus is required for online play on the PS4 console, but not on the PS3 or PSVita. In addition to online play, the membership provides free games each month for members to play while their subscription is active. Sony has sold around 40 million PS4 consoles and since PS+ is required for online play many gamers are not happy about the price increase.